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Thanks for the nice attention. I think it was the first book about lesbians. A few years before that, I wrote Trying Hard To Hear You, which was about gay boys. The one about the girls was reviewed less and sold less. Hmmm? What do you suppose the reason was for that?

What sticks with me about her question is

"reviewed less."

Now these books came out a while ago, but more attention to a book about gay teenage boys than about lesbian teenage girls doesn't surprise me...

It brings me, in fact, to the fascinating issue of our Western culture's horrified fascination with gay men's homosexuality - it's soooo threatening to many straight people - and our same culture's blasé take on and dis-interest in lesbian women's homosexuality (lesbians don't seem threatening at all, in fact they're seen as objects of sexual titillation for straight men!)

Huh?

Why? It's so odd - but I think the roots of it go down into our culture's misogynistic perspective, seeing everything as a reflection of The Straight White Man's interests and lives. Gay men (especially ones who don't act feminine, but share masculine traits with them) are threatening to The Straight White Man because - well... um... it's not that they're afraid they're really going to be jumped on in the gym showers!

Maybe it's because for many straight men, their own self-image is so tied up with being "The Man." They exist and thrive on the power dynamic of dominant over submissive, of male over female, where someone else's lack of power seems to inflate their own power (like bullies!) Anyone that doesn't fit neatly into this power dynamic threatens them and their power directly, purely because they don't fit where they "should"!

Perhaps this is the code that unlocks so many mysteries of our culture:

It's why there's a huge fear (and odd culture of jokes about) prison rape - as terrible as any rape is, I think the fear and discussion of this is really an expression of straight men's fear of losing power, of surrendering - for then they fear they will have lost themselves.

Today, consensual homosexual acts between adults are illegal in about 70 out of the 195 countries of the world;[3] in 40 of these, only male-male sex is outlawed.[4]

It's why women of power (like Senator Hilary Clinton) are so hated and are de-sexed (by accusing them of being lesbians) to make them seem less powerful.

It's why in some cultures men tell themselves they're not really "gay" if they are the "top" (the ostensibly dominant partner in the sexual interaction.) They've made the label of 'homosexual' only apply if they're submissive to another man! In fact, there are whole new categories of sexuality that have been coined to avoid using the terms "gay" or "homosexual" to apply to these men, such as "M-S-M" (Men who have Sex with Men.)

It's why "fairy" and "sissy" and other submissive, power-less put-downs were synonyms for being gay when I was growing up. And maybe it's why we have the slang today, of when something's bad, or someone's a loser, people sling around "that's so gay" or "you're so gay" as a put-down. It's a put-down of that person's power.

Now where does this leave the fetish-ization of the female S&M Mistress? (think black leather, thigh-high boots, and a whip...) I think it fits, because this powerful woman is seen as existing solely to focus on the pleasure of the straight man she's dominating. He's sort of humoring her to let her have this space where she gets to "pretend" to be in charge... But the power dynamic is kept intact, with The Straight White Man feeling ultimately in charge.

By recognizing this power dynamic that underlies some straight people's fear of GLBTQ people, perhaps we can better understand the obstacles to our attaining equality, and see the wisdom in building bridges and alliances with our natural allies - feminists and other minorities, groups and enlightened individuals (even some straight white men), who all struggle as we do against the world view of the Straight White Man on top, in power, with everyone else submissive and below him.

And maybe even more importantly, by understanding this secret code exists, we can fight back by refusing to have our power put-down. And we can claim power for ourselves, in our own lives, each and every day.

We can recognize that coming out is an act of claiming our POWER.

We can recognize that POWER is also INFORMATION!

Back to Sandra's comment, the book about lesbian teenagers

"sold less"

Could this be a direct result of the lack of awareness of the book among people who might want to read it?

Which, in a lovely circular way, brings me back to this blog, and the reason I'm doing this:

To EMPOWER YOU to know about these amazing books that are out there - so you can get them into your hands and read them!

Also, I didn't use the word gay or talk about it because I didn't want it to be a "gay" book. I wanted it to be a "real life" book where gay people are just people in your lives, not there to teach the gay lesson, just to exist as straight people do in literature.

And like many of the novels where the main characters have GLBTQ Parents or Caretakers, "The Manny Files" revolves around a pre-Teen (in this case, eight year old Keats.)

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The Bermudez Triangle is three best girlfriends in High School; Nina, Melanie (a.k.a. Mel), and Avery.

The summer before their senior year, Nina goes off to a college-prep program and meets Steve. When Nina comes back, she's stunned to discover that Mel and Avery found love that summer, too - with each other!

In the words of Maureen's website:

What exactly do you do when your two best friends in the entire world start dating?

"The Bermudez Triangle" is such a fun summer beach read that they even published a versino where the cover is "splash-proof!" (no, really. check it out.)

Monday, November 26, 2007

Okay, I'm really into "firsts" and Today's Bitchin' Queer Quote is about the first known gay spy...

Raymond Lecomte (1857-1921). As the first secretary of the French legation in Berlin, Lecomte infiltrated the homosexual clique surrounding the German Prince Philipp von Eulenburg.

It was called the "Round Table!"

His [Lecomte's] discovery that Germany was bluffing in the Morocco crisis of 1906 led to a French diplomatic victory at the Algeciras Conference. This in turn led to Eulenburg's exposure as a homosexual and his subsequent ruin. Lecomte's activities are the first known instance of a homosexual's using his sexual contacts for espionage.

Dah-Dah-Dahhhh!!

Now that's a BITCHIN' Queer Quote! It's from pg. 21 of "The First Gay Pope and other records" by Lynne Yamaguchi Fletcher.

the night Kaiser Wilhelm II was vacationing at an aristocrat's estate in the Black Forest when, after dinner, his chief of the Military Secretariat, Dietrich Graf von Hulsen-Haseler, was performing a dance in a tutu when his heart failed.

I swear I'm not making this stuff up!

okay, one last one for the Secretary of the German Military dying in a tutu...

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Grab or click it if you have it on your playlist or on an old CD (or heck, if you're a vinyl warrior, that's cool too.)

Or hey, go to itunes music store or one of the other online music stores and just play the free 30 second sample (a couple of times...) or buy it and download it right now!

Take a second, and put the track on...

And get in the Giving Thanks (Thanks-Giving!) mood...

We Are Family...

Okay, so you're born into one family - for good and bad, warts, sparkles, and all. It makes me think of the pre-school rhyme

"You get what you get and you don't get upset."

Actually, you DO get upset - getting upset - getting angry! - is a natural part of growing up! And what do you do? You find yourself making - CREATING - other families. And you'll continue to do that throughout your life, no matter the ups and downs of your relationship with the family you're born into.

Maybe it's Junior High when you start to make friends that's really YOU choosing and not just who lives near you or whose parents like your parents - you're starting to feel a bit more independent, and that's the start of another family - or sets of families - throughout your life - your FAMILY OF FRIENDS, of choice.

All the people around us they say,

can they be that close?

Just let me state for the record

Were giving love like a family does!

Some of us have high school friends -connections that can last through our lives, or run their course - and that's a family (even with it's own reunions!)

This joyful gathering around you of kindred spirits continues throughout life.

There's a family of people from your hobbies and passions (I've seen knitters talk like long-lost siblings, and anyone who's ever worked on a theater show knows how the actors and crew become a sort of family as long as the production runs!) and the people you find in your careers (When I run into fellow Kid Lit writers and bloggers, I feel a kinship - a sense of family, a shared purpose...)

There's also a family of people you're part of just by being who you are (other two-Dad families with kids make me so happy inside, even when I don't know them at all...) And a sense of community (and extended family) from living in a certain area for long enough that the people at the grocery store know you by name and always say "Hi!"

Another kind of family is when you gather with others who share your take on the world - for me this was coming out and finding a sense of TRIBE with other Gay Men - and as I've grown up, finding a kinship with others in the broader GLBTQ community.

Here's what we call the golden rule

have faith in you and the things you do

and you won't go wrong

oh no this is a family joint (yea yea).

And then, to get a bit philosophical, we're all part of the FAMILY OF HUMANITY. I know, I know, we keep trying to kill each other, or cut each other off in traffic, but every time there's some disaster (9/11, Tsunamis, Hurricane Katrina, Wildfires in California) we seem to be able to forget all the negativity and pull together to help each other out. Maybe we just need to figure out how to do it without the disasters... (sort of like the plot of so many sci fi novels and movies - all the human race needs is some common alien enemy, and we'll stop fighting each other...)

So, back to the pre-school rhyme, when it comes to family,

You get what you get and you don't get upset

Cause really, when you think about it - you get all these different families throughout your life.

And someday, if you're truly blessed, you can add one more kind of family tree to your enormous forest of families: you'll find someone to love, and maybe raise a child together. And you'll be a new family. I am so blessed.

We are Family!

For these and so many other reasons, I'm truly grateful.

And you know what?

There's even one more family that comes to mind:

The family - the community - that's part of the adventure of this blogsite!

Thank YOU for being part of my journey, as a writer, a shaman, and a novice blogger...

For all these things, and for you, my community of readers, I give thanks.

We are Family!

And I hope you grab a moment Today, and make a mental list of the families in your lives, and are able to give Thanks, too.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

As a Teen, he's sent off to a strict school to 'become a man.' In the middle of his country, Sri Lanka, being torn apart by ethnic conflict (between Tamil and Sinhalese) and suffering under the burdens of British colonial homophobia, Argun (a Tamil) falls for a fellow male student (who's Sinhalese.)

Two taboos broken, in one love. And then they're discovered...

"Funny Boy" won the Lambda Literary Award in 1996 for Gay Men's Fiction, as well as a whole bunch of other accolades. I've included it here on this blogsite (even though they weren't really marketing it as a YA novel) because it's story of a Teenage boy figuring out who he is...

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Amrith is 14 and adopted. When his male cousin Niresh (from the family of his birth-mother) shows up at his home in Sri Lanka, Amrith's past, present, and future go through the same Monsoon storms that sweep across the island nation.

Amidst the summer tempests, Amrith falls in love with Niresh - and awakens to being gay.

Monday, November 19, 2007

"True History," by the Greek writer Lucian (A.D. 120-185) is the First Gay Science Fiction Story EVER!

On a voyage into the Atlantic, the narrator is suddenly enveloped by a typhoon, which sweeps him up to the moon. Earth's satellite is inhabited by men only, and is engaged in a war with the sun. After distinguishing himself in combat, the hero returns to the moon, where the king magnanimously gives him his son the prince in marriage.

WOW!

The all male society reproduces (male children only) by giving birth from the thigh or by growing a child from a plant produced by planting the left testicle in the moon's soil.

Crazy! Fascinating! It's more than 2100 years old - and I wanna read this!

I found out about this on page 95 in the amazing "The First Gay Pope and other records" by Lynne Yamaguchi Fletcher. There was a little more detail about it in the article "Lucian" by William A. Percy in the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, pg. 752.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

The King: SaulThe King's Son - a military Hero in his own right: JonathanThe Warrior Hero: David

excerpts from the work:

When he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day, and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his girdle."

Saul soon becomes jealous of David's military successes, and afraid of David...

After Saul tries - more than once - to pin David to the wall with his spear while David is playing the lyre, David prudently decides to flee. Saul blames Jonathan for aiding and abetting David, accusing him,

"You son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?"

Storming out of the Palace, Jonathan goes to find David, who has hidden himself behind a heap of stones in a field. Seeing Jonathan, David "fell on his face to the ground, and bowed three times; and they kissed one another, and wept with one another, until David exceeded [himself].

After swearing that "the Lord shall be between me and you, and between my descendents and your descendants, forever," the two part.

After Jonathan's death, David cries out

"How are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle! Jonathan lies slain upon the high places. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant have you been to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women."

So what is this? A Lost Manuscript by Shakespeare? A Gay Teen Novel from the middle ages?

Actually, It's from the OLD TESTAMENT - The "Bible."

Really.

Saul was the King of Israel.

Jonathan, the King's son, loved David.

And David, the famous warrior, loved Jonathan. And yeah, it's the same David who slew the Giant Goliath with his slingshot, and who ended up the greatest King of Israel, and was an ancestor of Jesus.

Oh, and the phrase "passing the love of women" became code, in the middle ages and after, for love between men.

And gay artists like Donatello and Michelangelo (yup, THAT Michelangelo) made DAVID their ideal of youthful male beauty.

And yes, it's THIS David.

Pretty cool, huh?

An Ancient - a BIBLICAL - Gay LOVE story. Right there all the time...

Namaste,

Lee

For more on David and Jonathan, check out pgs. 159-161 of "The Gay 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Gay Men and Lesbians, Past and Present" by Paul Russell, and pgs. 26-39 of "Jonathan Loved David: Homosexuality in Biblical Times" by Tom Horner. Oh, and you can check out the different translations of these:

Monday, November 12, 2007

Those are some of the words I heard growing up and the words I was taught were synonymous with being gay. It's one of the reasons I had so much trouble figuring out that I WAS gay - oh, I knew who I was attracted to and all, but because I wanted to grow up to be a man of strength and confidence, and I wanted to be held by another man of strength and confidence, the label "gay" didn't seem to fit.

and the whole gym-bunny muscle-bound ripped-abs look, is a cultural response of Gay men to this myth of sissyhood.

Almost as if they're answering the schoolyard taunts: Gay men are sissies? Not if you look at my biceps!

And, I'll add - not if you look (really look) at history!

Here's a great quote about Alexander the Great:

"His primary love seems to have been reserved for his companion from boyhood, the brilliant Hephaestion. According to Plutarch, when Alexander came to the site of Ancient Troy, he laid a wreath on Achilles' tomb, and Hephaestion laid one on the tomb of Patroclus: a clear and public avowal of their relationship, given that the ancients commonly supposed Achilles and Patroclus to have been lovers."

But despite the historical record (often hidden and "straight-i-fied") about famous warriors (like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Trajan, Frederick the Great, and Lawrence of Arabia) being Men who loved Men, American culture continues to steep us in this falsehood.

And then there's the opposite supposition about Lesbians - that their women-loving ways make them hard, masculine, unattractive. In fact, there's a misogyny at work here in the prejudice against women who have power - look at the efforts to portray Hilary Clinton, a U.S. Senator, the front-runner for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, a true Woman of Power, as a lesbian.

What about the Women of Power and Beauty in Herstory who were womyn-loving-womyn? Queen Christina of Sweden, Russia's Catherine II (1729-1796), and England's Queen Anne (1665-1714), and, of course, the AMAZONS!?! Once again, the facts are ignored, overlooked, buried.

The unstated bias is that a woman of true power couldn't be "normal." She must be trying to be the "man," in that quaint (and insulting) concept some straight people have that in a gay or lesbian relationship, the sexual roles remain classic, only with one effeminate man playing the "woman" and one butch woman playing the "man."

So, saddled as we are with these ridiculous and patently untrue stereotypes, we have the disastrous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, despite many other countries letting openly Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender soldiers serve without any loss of "unit cohesion" or "military readiness." Look at the experience of Spain, Canada, The Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Great Britain and Israel.

"One million lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans have served in our armed forces. Yet, the Pentagon fires two people every day for being gay.

LGBT service members have served in every conflict since the American Revolution. Since World War II, however, our government has discharged more than 115,000 brave American service members who had been willing to die for our liberty, even while denied their own because of who they are."

It's amazing how homophobia can become policy, and policy can foment more homophobia.

But the opposite is true as well - policy can show equality and respect, and thus a culture of equality and respect is encouraged to grow.

So it's Veteran's Day. And like that amazing line from the movie "300"

"Freedom isn't Free."

We're a country at war - a very unpopular war - and no one here at home seems truly affected except for the military families whose lives revolve around constant crisis and sacrifice.

So it's a day to honor our Veterans, to honor our current serving members of the military and their families, and also a day to remember what this country stands for: Liberty and Justice for All. And that includes all the servicemembers who have been discharged for being who they are - and it includes all of us, too: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Queer Americans - sissies and musclemen - bulldykes and lipstick lesbians, everyone in-between genders and stereotypes, all of us!

Maybe Today is a good day to realize that if freedom isn't free, perhaps equality - true equality - is a goal everyone in our community, and all our straight-and-not-narrow allies, need to stand up for, shout about, and vote for as well!

And one last thought for this Monday, in images:

The Gay Pride Rainbow Flag is this:

and the Italian PEACE flag is this:

I like how they've been brought together.

Here's to a world at peace...

Namaste,

Lee

(Great information on Alexander the Great, Queen Christina and other Gays and Lesbians of Power came from pgs. 56-59, and pgs. 98 - 101 in "The Gay 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Gay Men and Lesbians, Past and Present" by Paul Russell.)

What blows my mind is such a mainstream (read: straight) magazine, with all these celebrity's private lives splashed across its cover and pages, (the Cover's on Owen Wilson) would have a GAY MAN as the "SEXY MAN OF THE WEEK."

And not just a mention of his being gay - and partnered for 13 years - Go Perry! But the QUESTIONS the interviewer (Thank you, Melody S. Wells!) asks him are about ROMANCE! GAY ROMANCE!

Things like asking Perry:

THE PERFECT RECIPE FOR ROMANCE

And

HOW TO KEEP LOVE ALIVE

And

MY SEDUCTION SECRET

And his answers, including

"SEA OF LOVE: I would love to see two guys meet in the surfing lineup."

Think about it.

PEOPLE Magazine. It's everywhere. WalMarts. Red States. Convenience Stores. Libraries! 3,750,000 copies of this issue that could get into the hands of GLBTQ Teens across the country... and the world!

Okay, this is HUGE!

And I love that the feature on him isn't about his being Gay as opposed to his being straight, it's about his being SEXY, and about his answers to LOVE questions - all of which are about a guy finding love with another guy!

You know, that annoying feeling I always get when the ADVOCATE (The LGBT News Magazine) features yet another Straight actor or actress who's playing a Queer role? (The current issue has Cate Blanchette on the cover, who "Tops our 2007 list of Coolest Straight People")

Friday, November 9, 2007

It's the summer before college, and Battle (who just broke up with Nicola, the "Nic" from Sara's book "Empress of the World") joins her newly found runaway older brother in a Portland co-op full of artsy, broke, theatrical and sexy gals and guys who are on their way to becoming Adults.

Her roommate Meryl is alluring, her brother is frustrating, and there's a lot for Battle to discover about who she is and who her brother might be.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Well, I'm all excited about how the GLBTQ community, though the magic of the internet, has gone GLOBAL! And yeah, even lil' ol' me and this barely two month-old blogsite!

I confess... I finally have a way to know (don't worry- not who) but where geographically speaking, people are when they visit this blogsite.

And it's been a great reminder to me that my mission is not just to empower and inform American Teens and others about great GLBTQ YA Novels (and cool bits of our queer history and my ramblings - er... musings, like this one) but to empower and inform Teens and others interested who inhabit the greater English-speaking world.

Heady stuff, huh?

Well here's a sampling, from just the last two days, of where people who are part of this growing community are from:

Hyderabad, India

Sydney, Australia

New Zealand

Stuttgart, Germany

Luton, England

Edmonton, Canada

Manila, Phillippines

Amsterdam, Netherlands

and over 15 States in the U.S.A.!

So the list of books on this blogsite will eventually include books from Canada, books from Australia and New Zealand, books from the United Kingdom, and books from the rest of the English speaking world!

Until I accomplish the goal of "I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell do I Read?" being a truly GLOBAL resource, here are some great lists compiled by others, to get your reading going!

Following Sunday's "unmasking" of King Tutankhamun live on worldwide television from the Valley of the Kings, across the Nile from Luxor in Egypt, it was inevitable that there would be some discussion on which ancient Egyptian kings were gay. Sure enough, Lee Wind's "I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell Do I Read" blog obliged. And it is not the 19-years-old Tutankhamun ...

All this GOING GLOBAL stuff totally makes me want to sing, (And you can sing along too, you know you want to...)

"It's a small Queer world after all,It's a small Queer world after all,It's a small Queer world after all,it's a small...Queer...world!"

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Nicola, who goes by "Nic," spends the summer off at a program for gifted Teens. She thinks she's going to figure out her future - will she really choose to be an archaeologist? But what she actual is faced with figuring out is even more important: who she might be falling for, and what that means about who she is.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

After he's killed, 15-year-old Jeremiah watches over those he left behind - his white girlfriend Ellie, his friends (including queer boy Carlton), and his parents as they all try to figure out how to move on with their lives.

It's the sequel to Jacqueline's book "If You Come Softly," a modern-day interracial Romeo and Juliet.

While there’s not a lot of detail in the scraps of history I’ve been able to find, the tidbits are fascinating and intriguing. Think about it - how sexy, a King and his General in a passionate relationship!

What worlds existed, what cultures, and what amazing power there is in a love - a gay love - whose echoes can be heard 4,300 years later!

They built a pyramid to bury Pepi II

But his black granite sarcophagus was empty.

I wonder if there's another tomb somewhere, still undiscovered, where Pepi II and his general-lover Sisinne are together again...

Then again, if it was found Today, they'd probably call it something like "the Tomb of Two Brothers" rather than Two Lovers.

In fact, there is an actual "Tomb of Two Brothers," (here's an image from it:)

though it's often referred to as the "Tomb of the Hairdressers," a bit of a slam against gays and hairstylists, but at least most people aren't buying the official 'they were brothers' line for Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, the chief manicurists for the Pharaoh, who shared a tomb and are found in images throughout it together and often in "intimate embraces." By the way, the guess is that this "Tomb of the Hairdressers" pre-dates Pepy II by something like 100 years!

Where did I find out about all this?

Pepi II and Sisinne's relationship is also mentioned as “The first documented gay couple” in “The First Gay Pope and other records” by Lynne Yamaguchi Fletcher, pg. 12.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

The coming of age of 17 year old Jacob, who goes from England to Holland to honor his Grandfather, who was a soldier in WWII. Jacob visits Anne Frank's house, he gets mugged, and as he gets his bearings in this new culture, he tries to figure out who he is and whom he might love.

Interwoven with this story is the romance of Jacob's grandfather, an injured British soldier who falls in love with the Dutch woman hiding him from the Nazis.

This book won the Carnegie Medal (1999) and, when it was published in the U.S., the Michael Printz Award (2003)

About Me

Author. Blogger. Make-The-World-A-Better-Placer. Out to Empower LGBTQ Teens and their Allies. SCBWI 2015 Member of the Year. Represented by Danielle Smith of Lupine Grove Creative. All opinions expressed on this blog are solely my own.

The Small Print: How To Recommend Books To Include, and a Disclaimer

Don't see your favorite Book here? First do a search in the top left search box. Then check my "Books Still To Come" list. If you still don't see it, just click on "Contact Me" and leave me a note. I appreciate all your help making this blogsite a comprehensive resource! Also, when you've read one of the books listed, help other visitors out by adding a review.

Submission Guidelines: If you are an author or publisher, I do not generally accept review copies, since I don't really review the books featured on this blog - My goal is to let readers review them. All I need is a synopsis (including what's significantly GLBTQ about the book - so I know why I should include it here), a link to the author website or some online info or interview with the author, and the book's release date (as I don't post on books before they are available to the public.) Please make sure to include your contact info so I can follow up with you!

Disclaimer: Having said that, some of the books discussed on this blog may have been provided by the author or publisher. While some Links when you click on a book cover image will take you to a bookstore online (as one option of how you can get the book), I do not currently have any commission or credit arrangement for linked purchases. The opinions expressed on this blog, unless they're a comment from someone else, are my own.

Please, be kind and patient with each other, with yourselves, and, well - with me. Thanks! Lee